The Recipe

In an apartment complex in San Francisco, things had been very quiet so early in the morning. Until now, because on the fourth floor at the end of the hall, a loud scream could be heard through the door of a journalist's apartment.

»Did you ask her?«

»Yes, E.T.«, grumbled Eddie, annoyed.

A big mistake, because Venom hated that nickname. And he let Eddie know that.

»…«

»Eyyyyy. Stop it now. No, Venom. Stop. Stop that-AhHHH!«

Eddie had just been eating his toast in peace when Venom had urged him to ask Anne for the recipe for the cookies from two days ago. Annoyed that he had to interrupt his breakfast, he had quickly sent the message to Anne. But the nickname had slipped out by accident and now he had to watch as Venom reached for his toast in front of his eyes and wanted to eat it. Eddie quickly jumped up and reached for it when in the heat of the moment he slipped on a chocolate bar wrapper and fell forward. Venom quickly took care of things and manifested some tentacles from his back, which he attached to the ceiling so that Eddie didn't fall to the ground but remained hanging in the air. But that didn't mean that he couldn't still eat his toast in front of Eddie's eyes as punishment for the nickname.

»You…«, he growled.

»For calling me E.T. again.«

»But it's true!« Eddie replied, still hanging in the air.

»But I don't like the name! And may I remind you that for me, YOU are the alien here?«

»Perhaps so, but you are on planet Earth.«

Venom growled at him, but that didn't scare Eddie anymore.

»And here-« Eddie began as he was suddenly pulled to the ceiling. He stuck with a bang and looked at Venom disapprovingly.

»Apologize!«

»Wasn't eating my toast punishment enough?«

Venom looked at him demandingly when Eddie's phone vibrated on the table. Venom immediately turned excitedly to the small device and looked at the display.

»Anne wrote. But it's locked, I can't read it.«

»Yes, then give it to me, Sherlock«, Eddie replied with a grin.

A small tendril took it and pressed it into Eddie's hand. He unlocked it and read her message. Then he turned it to Venom so that he could see it too.

»Anne sent me the recipe. Happy now?«

»Yes!«, he replied enthusiastically.

He immediately let Eddie rush back down and sat him straight at the table.

»Woah, what are you doing?«, he asked as another tentacle wandered into the kitchen and came back with a second piece of toast.

»Hurry up with breakfast, we have to go shopping and get the ingredients, Watson.«

Eddie almost choked on his coffee and just nodded, laughing.

An hour later they were on their way to Mrs. Chen's small supermarket. She was the only one who knew about Venom, besides Anne and Dan. She organised kilos of chocolate for them to buy, which was reason enough for Venom to like her.

And every now and then they could also ensure that protection racketeers shit their pants in fear and run away. So far they had only eaten one once. And all this right in front of their eyes...

They entered the small shop and greeted Mrs. Chen, who was busily stocking up on goods.

»So we need eggs, vanilla flavoring, butter, baking powder and powdered sugar. We still have flour and sugar at home«, Eddie read from the list of ingredients on his phone.

»We should be able to find that quickly. And don't forget the chocolate.«

Eddie just rolled his eyes. The evil man-eating alien from outer space couldn't go a day without it.

»Can we put some on the cookies later? Instead of icing?«

»Yes, of course. If you really want to...«, Eddie murmured quietly as he took eggs and butter from the refrigerator shelf.

Baking powder was also quickly found, only the vanilla aroma caused him problems. At first he couldn't find it at all and then there were tons of different variants: vanilla paste, vanilla extract, vanilla bean... Eddie had never really baked before and was overwhelmed, so he had to ask Mrs. Chen for advice, who recommended the bean.

Mrs. Chen frowned questioningly. Eddie usually only bought normal food like eggs, milk, but actually mostly canned goods, ready-made products and chocolate. She had never seen him buy baking ingredients.

»What do you need all that for, Eddie?« she asked curiously.

»Venom wants to bake cookies«, he replied.

She looked at him in surprise. The scary alien wanted to bake? But she nodded briefly and turned around. She walked towards the boxes she was emptying and came back with something small and metal in her hand.

»Then you'll probably need that.«

She held out a reindeer-shaped cookie cutter.

»Yes!« Venom said happily.

Eddie hadn't even considered that they would also need a cookie cutter. He accepted it gratefully.

When they finally had everything, they paid Mrs. Chen and went home.

Eddie could feel his friend getting more and more excited with every meter. It was almost contagious as he felt the joy and grinned himself.

When they got home, Eddie put everything in the kitchen and dug out flour and sugar from his cupboard. As he placed it down next to the rest, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked for the recipe.

»It says that we should melt the butter first. In the microwave.«

»Then let's do that!«

Eddie felt a tendril coming out of his back that wanted to grab the butter, but he put his hand in between.

»Wait, we have to weigh it first. We don't need the whole block.«

Eddie turned around and looked in the drawer for a knife and a bowl.

Then he paused.

»Wait, I don't have a scale anymore because of you…«, he realized.

»Then we just estimate.«

»Great…«, he said sarcastically

As if he didn't already have no experience in baking, now they had to estimate all the ingredients. If nothing could go wrong...

He just randomly cut off a large piece and put it in the bowl. He then put it in the microwave and turned it on.

In the meantime, he took a large bowl out of his cupboard and put it next to the rest of the ingredients.

»Now we have to put the rest of the ingredients in this bowl and mix them. And then we put the butter in.«

»Just put everything in?«

»Yeah, well, maybe we should do the eggs first…«, he said while Venom took 2 eggs out of the packaging with two tentacles and held them over the bowl and broke them apart.

At the same time, he poured in a large pile of flour and a small pile of sugar and took a wooden spoon out of the drawer and stirred vigorously. Flour dust filled the air as Venom stirred in a whole bag of baking powder and threw the vanilla bean into the mix.

»Tadaa!« Venom shouted excitedly.

»Yeah, I don't think it'll work that way«, Eddie laughed as he fished the bean out.

»You have to cut it open.«

He put it on a cutting board next to him and grabbed a sharp knife and cut it lengthways.

»So you can bake after all.«

»Oh, Anne used to love watching cooking shows. I picked it up from there«, he said melancholically.

He scraped out the seeds and dropped them into the bowl. Immediately there was a bang in the microwave and Eddie turned around in shock.

»Shit.«

»What was that?«

Eddie sighed.

»The butter. It exploded.«

»Butter can explode?!«

»Yes«, he muttered and opened the microwave door.

The melted butter dripped from the ceiling and was stuck to the inside walls. It would take forever to clean that up again...

He took the bowl out and almost burned his fingers in the process.

»Damn it,« he cursed.

»Don't worry. I'll take care of it.«

Venom took it from him and poured what was left of the butter into the large bowl. Then he picked up the wooden spoon again and continued stirring vigorously.

Slowly the mixture formed a firm dough and stirring became more laborious.

»Is the dough ready now?« asked Venom impatiently.

Eddie, who was reading the next step in the recipe, looked up from his phone.

»I think so,« he said, nodding.

He read that the dough should be rolled out thinly on a floured surface. So he made room on the counter and tipped some flour out of the packet.

Venom, meanwhile, manifested himself in his snake-like form and floated next to Eddie's head.

»Do we have anything we can use to roll it out?«

Eddie shook his head.

»It'll work with hands too«, he advised, shrugging.

»Maybe we should buy a few more kitchen utensils«, Venom suggested.

Eddie looked around. He didn't have a scale, a rolling pin, or even a mixer. Well, in his defense, he had actually owned a scale until a few weeks ago, but it had stopped working when Venom had literally run amok in the kitchen, throwing things around wildly. And just because Eddie had forgotten to buy chocolate...

»Yeah, we could really tackle that«, he agreed.

Eddie took the dough out of the bowl and dropped it on the counter. He started to flatten the dough with his hands, which was really not that easy without tools.

It took a while and the dough looked a bit uneven in the end, but he was satisfied. Eddie saw out of the corner of his eye how a small tendril reached for the cookie cutter in the shopping bag and placed it on the dough.

Venom pushed it down, grinning like a toddler. Slowly he lifted it up again and Eddie carefully took the little reindeer in his hand.

»Not bad at all.«

Venom grinned enthusiastically. He carefully cut them out one by one while Eddie put them on a baking tray.

He then placed the misshapen scraps that were left over on the baking tray.

»Okay, then they'll go in the oven for 15 minutes and then they should be ready.«

»And what do we do in the meantime?«

Venom looked questioningly at Eddie.

»Since you wanted to decorate them with chocolate, we can melt it«, he suggested.

Venom's eyes widened, which made Eddie smile. Chocolate was his absolute weak point.

He dug the chocolate out of the shopping bag and because he knew his buddy, he grabbed two bars and held one out to him.

»Here for you.«

Venom accepted it gratefully and ripped open the packaging. Eddie could hardly believe how quickly it had disappeared into Venom's mouth. And he didn't even seem to chew.

»How do you do that?«, he asked in amazement.

»What?«

»You literally have no body in this snake-like form and yet you can eat things. I mean, where does it go?«

»Where do you think the heads we eat go?«

Eddie immediately regretted his question. The cinema in his head couldn't be prevented and the image in his mind's eye reminded him of when they had eaten the last bad guy. Eddie always had to watch it all and unfortunately taste it too and that was just... Eww... He got goosebumps just thinking about it.

At least he had been able to convince Venom not to eat people at random, but to only hunt "bad guys" as he liked to call them.

»It's been a few days since the last hunt, Eddie.«

»I don't think I'm hungry for cookies anymore«, Eddie commented, grimacing in pain.

Venom felt Eddie becoming uncomfortable. They had only known each other for about 2 months, so Eddie wasn't used to the whole thing yet. He had to be careful not to scare him off, so he decided to answer his question quickly.

»To your question: I absorb it. My matter simply absorbs it and breaks it down into everything we need to survive.«

»Oh, okay. Yeah, makes sense,« he murmured casually and put the chocolate in a hot water bath, overcoming his little shock.

Eddie watched the chocolate melt in silence until he had to grin and shake his head.

»What's wrong?« Venom looked at him questioningly.

»That's just too absurd...« he started to laugh.

»I mean, I'm standing here in my kitchen.

And bake cookies.

With an alien?

That likes brains and chocolate.«

Eddie looked at Venom.

»And I didn't even believe in them until two months ago! And now I live with one and you're sticking out of my shoulder like a damn alien snake and I don't mind at all. That's crazy, isn't it?«

»Pretty selfish to think you're alone in the infinite universe.«

»Well, to be fair, I think most people assume there's some kind of life out there. But then finding out that it's actually true is really shocking.«

»And that it wants to eat you too…«, he added quietly.

Eddie felt a small tentacle poking his side and flinched away, giggling.

»Hey, what was that?«

»Nothing«, Venom replied, grinning.

»And don't worry, I'll save you for last«, he teased, playfully licking Eddie's cheek.

»Eww, Venom. That's so disgusting«, Eddie complained.

He tried to wipe the drool from his face with his hand, which didn't make it any better, since he now had the stuff on his hand as well as his face. The only solution was washing it off.

He went into the bathroom, closely followed by a grinning Venom who was having the time of his life.

»I thought that was how you showed affection?«

»Yes, dogs do that.«

Eddie washed his face and hands thoroughly at the sink.

»But you're obviously not one. Although you share a striking number of behavioral patterns with them.«

»Which ones?«

»Well, you eat all sorts of things, even if they are actually inedible.-«

»That is a matter of opinion.«

»You follow me everywhere.-«

»Well, that can't be prevented.«

»You always want attention. And you love chocolate. Even though it is poisonous for dogs.«

»Dogs can't eat chocolate?!«

»No, even the smallest amounts could kill them. And yet they are downright addicted to it.«

He dried his hands and face and went back to the kitchen.

»But you humans are not so different from them too.«

»What do you mean?«

»Alcohol and cigarettes, for example, are highly toxic and kill you, albeit slowly, and many still consume them.«

»True, but many people consider them a stimulant. Just like chocolate is for you.«

»But it won't kill me.«

»Well, given the amounts you consume, I wouldn't be so sure about that,« Eddie replied, laughing.

He looked into the pot and saw that the chocolate had already completely melted. Now all that was missing were the cookies.

»Shouldn't they be ready by now?«

»Actually, yes.«

Eddie crouched down to look in the oven. Venom followed his movement.

Something was actually happening in the oven and, surprisingly, they actually looked really good. The dough was already lightly browned and Eddie smelled a wonderful vanilla scent. When he turned his head to Venom, he had to grin because he was staring at the cookies as if in a trance and didn't move at all.

»Shall we get them out?«

»YES!« he exclaimed excitedly.

Eddie took a kitchen towel and turned off the oven. He carefully opened the oven door and reached for the tray. Under the watchful eyes of his roommate, he carefully took it out and placed it on the stove next to the chocolate.

»They look delicious«, Venom enthused.

»I have to say, I expected worse. They really do look damn good, but we'll see later whether they taste good.«

»What? Why can't we eat them now?«

»They just came right out of the oven, they're way too hot. And besides you wanted to decorate them.«

Venom nodded and immediately grabbed a spoon and dipped it into the liquid chocolate. He carefully dripped it onto the cookies. He was very careful. He wanted the cookies to be perfect.

Eddie watched him with a grin. At that very moment, Venom had lost all threatening nature. When he had first revealed himself to him, he had been scared shitless. And now? Now Venom was distracted with decorating cookies instead of invading this planet with his own race and wiping out its inhabitants.

»I told you not to think about it so much anymore.«

»Yes, and you shouldn't snoop around in my thoughts so often anymore«, he replied.

But he was right, it really didn't do him any good to keep thinking about what would have happened to planet Earth.

»Of course I am«, he replied, grinning, without raising his head or pausing his activity.

»Man, Venom!« Eddie growled, laughing and throwing the kitchen towel at his friend. The towel hit him on the back of the head, causing him to turn around in shock.

»Eddie, now I wobbled because of you!« Venom moaned.

Eddie laughed out loud, tears of laughter welling up in his eyes. His gaze wandered to the cookies that Venom had so painstakingly decorated. As best as he could, he had given each reindeer a face and covered the antlers and legs with chocolate. The leftover dough had been given a full load to make them taste even better.

»Oh wow, Venom. They look really good«, he said in amazement.

»Do you really think so?«

»Yes, now I'm almost sorry we have to eat them«, Eddie assured him.

Venom's eyes lit up with joy. A positive feeling spread through him when he realized that Eddie really meant it. Something he had never known before. A lot had happened in the last two months. He had learned a lot, not only about this planet or its inhabitants, but also about himself. He had made something like a friend for the first time and he had learned that he didn't have to be this invasive, all-destroying monster that wipes out entire planets, as was usual for his race, but that he could be more.

And that was thanks to Eddie.

»Venom? Hello! Are you still among the living?«

»What?«, he asked baffled.

»What was wrong? You were like out of it?« Eddie asked worriedly.

»I was just thinking about something…«, he muttered.

Eddie didn't give up. He had never seen him so out of it before.

»Do you want to talk about it?«

»Actually, it's not that important.«

»But it's bothering you? So it can't be unimportant.«

Venom thought for a moment. He really wasn't used to having such interactions. The whole thing with emotions was still new to him and he wasn't sure if he should bother Eddie with it. But he sensed that Eddie was genuinely interested.

»I was just thinking about the last few months. Life here is so different from what I'm used to.«

»And does that mean something good?« Eddie asked carefully.

Venom grinned.

»Yes, definitely.«

»That's good. It must have been really bad living among your race if you like our little blue planet so much.«

»If you knew... But I shouldn't worry about that anymore. I live here now and there's still so much I want to see and experience.«

»Well, nothing stands in the way of that«, Eddie replied with a grin and got an idea.

The two of them turned back to the cookies and Eddie took a knife out of the slider and used it to place two reindeer on a plate.

He walked to the fridge and put it in.

»What are you doing?«

»It'll take hours for them to cool down, it'll go faster this way.«

»But I don't want to wait any longer«, Venom complained.

»Don't worry, a few minutes should be enough«, he said as he walked to his desk and picked up a piece of paper and pen and sat down. Venom looked at him questioningly.

»We'll make a list in the meantime.«

»For what?«

»For you. For the things you still want to do. Like a bucket list«, he explained, writing "Venom's bucket list" as the heading.

»A what?«

»A bucket list. You write things on it that you want to do or achieve in your life. Could be anything. Some people write things like bungee jumping or skydiving on it, others that they want to meet their idol or travel around the world.«

Venom was visibly overwhelmed.

»So?«

»…«

»You said there are so many things you want to see and do? Can you think of anything?«

Venom shook his head.

»Maybe something for Christmas?«

»I don't know anything about it. What else do you do at Christmas?«

»Well, we've already baked cookies. We could get a Christmas tree?«

»A tree? Why?«

»Not important, I'll write it down«, he said and started to take notes.

»Oh, wait. I do have an idea. I really want to go to the beach and see the sea.«

»Okay, sure.«

»And into the mountains!«

Eddie continued to write things down diligently. He had the feeling that Venom liked the idea of the bucket list and that it also seemed to distract him pretty well from the gloomy thoughts that had been troubling him earlier.

»Eddie?«

»Hm?«

»What's on your bucket list?«

Eddie looked up in surprise. He had never really thought about it before.

»Actually, I don't have one...«

»But I thought that was one of those things you humans do?«

»Yeah, well, a few. I don't know... I've never made one.«

Venom couldn't leave it at that. First Eddie told him that you write your dreams and goals on it and then he told him that he didn't have a bucket list?

Venom made a tentacle appear and grabbed a pen. In scrawled handwriting, he wrote "Eddie's and" in front of the heading.

»We'll do it all together anyway, we can share a list«, he said with a grin.

Eddie was stunned and couldn't say a word.

»What do you want to do?«

»I don't know. I'm pretty sure I've ticked off enough things in the last two months to make five bucket lists.«

Venom gave him a disapproving look.

»No, seriously. I can tick off more things than probably anyone else: meet an alien, jump from the fourth floor, fall from a skyscraper, be chased through the city by a crazy billionaire on my motorcycle and break every bone in my body, almost get killed by an evil alien…«, he listed.

»Well, as I understand it, a bucket list only contains things you really want to do one day.«

Eddie shrugged.

»Well yes, that's true…«

»Okay, so since neither of us can think of anything else and I'm sure we don't have to complete the list today, we can go back to our cookies. I'm starving.«

»Uh, yes, there's time for that,« he agreed.

»Good,« he said with a grin as his tentacle took the plate out of the fridge and placed the plate on the desk.

They both grabbed a cookie each. Eddie looked at it more closely before biting the reindeer's head off. To his surprise, the cookie was actually edible. He hadn't had much hope until now because they hadn't weighed anything, but they were really tasty. Nice and crispy on the outside but still soft on the inside and the dark chocolate on top made it perfect.

»Oh wow,« he said while still chewing.

»Hmmmm«, Venom said with enjoyment.

»Homemade really does taste better.«

»Told you.«

Eddie put the rest in his mouth and enjoyed the wonderful taste that spread across his tongue.

»I think I have to get another one,« he said, jumping up quickly.

»Not so fast, wait. I want another one too!« Venom shouted excitedly.

»No, they're mine! I'll eat them all by myself«, Eddie shouted, pretending to be greedy.

»You wouldn't dare!«

»You bet. As revenge for the other cookies,« he grinned at him.

Eddie had almost reached the baking tray when Venom stuck him to the floor with tentacles around his wrists. Eddie fought back with all his might and pulled on them as hard as he could. He braced himself with his feet and managed to stretch out his right hand. It was only a little further, he was almost touching the baking sheet, but Venom pulled harder on the bonds and Eddie realized that he had no chance. It's a good thing Venom was no longer an alien trying to eat him, because then he would definitely have lost out!

»We share fairly!«

»Oh, and what was that last week?«

»I was hungry then«, he said sheepishly.

»You're always hungry«, Eddie replied, laughing.